Madhya Pradesh biker gets city e-challan for not wearing seat belt!

In a curious case, a 27-year-old resident of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh has been issued a challan against his bike, for jumping traffic signals and not wearing a seatbelt at Malad, Mumbai, this even though he has not been in the city for over two years. Swapnil Namdev has reached out to the Mumbai police on Twitter seeking to correct the error.

Namdev, a wedding filmmaker, had last visited Mumbai in early 2020. "I bought the bike from a friend in Mumbai and I have not visited the city since 2020. But yesterday, my friend who is the previous owner of the bike called and told me I have been charged by Mumbai Traffic department for traffic violations," he said. Namdev has been summoned to either pay the fine or face the trial at Lok Adalat on May 7, 2022.

The bike that got an e-challan

Upon checking, he found out that three challans were issued against his bike on June 13, 2021. Two of them for jumping signals and one for riding without a seatbelt. "It is funny that they charged me for not wearing a seatbelt when it is a bike," he said, adding, "The penalty is only R600 but why should I pay it?"

He then took to Twitter to raise the issue with the Mumbai Police, however, he is yet to get a response. "I was scared to find the notice with the challan that I have to face the trial. When I tweeted about it, I found several similar complaints," Namdev said.

When contacted, DCP Traffic (Headquarter) Raj Tilak Roshan told mid-day, "We have to check this case and investigate how it has happened. It could be due to a duplicate number plate or manual error. But in any case, if motorists have objections about the challan issued to them or not belonging to their vehicle, they can reach out to us via MumTrafficapp or tag us on our Twitter handle @MTPHereToHelp."